Gosh, where do I start?! I don’t think anyone wants to talk about politics at the moment but all I will say is that my boss won her seat and I still have a job. It was very odd coming back to Parliament after five weeks away, not least because I just slotted back into the routine as if nothing had happened! We are still in the same office for now but we don’t know if we will stay there. I do like our office though so maybe we will invoke squatters’ rights!
Of course, I did what any self-respecting dressage rider would do on the day of a General Election – I rode in a competition. Our lovely livery horse, Dormilon XV (Dom to his friends), has been a bit sluggish in the arena with his owner, Caroline, in recent weeks. Given that I was around and there was a competition at home, we thought it would be good for me to do some fact-finding. With a couple of reminders along the way, he went very sweetly through two Mediums. In fact, he did some really super work, earning 8.5 for a simple change, and finished on two cracking scores of 73.6% and 72.5%.
In other news, I had a very rare non-horsey weekend a couple of weeks ago and journeyed down to the south of France for an absolute picture-perfect wedding. I was so honoured to be asked to be a bridesmaid for my lovely friend Perdi. Work and horses mean that maintaining a social life can be hard, and friends have to be both very patient and very understanding! We had a beautiful weekend of gorgeous weather and great company, and I could have happily stayed there for a fortnight.
My latest outing was a trip to a VERY warm and sunny Bristol with Zoe Squirrell, a para-dressage rider. I have known Zoe for years and am always bowled over by her determination. If Zoe sets her mind on something, there’s no stopping her! She was taking part in a BEF Entry Training day with Eddy, a horse I have helped her with a bit before. I worked Eddy in outside before Zoe’s lesson to make sure he was listening to the aids and settled before she got on. I then walked (and, at times, ran…) next to them while they both had a look around the indoor arena. It was fascinating to watch trainer Nina Venables at work. While I have coached lots of able-bodied riders, Zoe is the only para I help, and it’s a very different skill. I definitely picked up some good pointers from Nina that will also help my everyday teaching.
I can’t believe I’m nearing the end of a blog post and haven’t mentioned Freya once! The pocket rocket has been on great form as usual. She had a couple of days where she was a bit more rocket than pocket, but she’s settled down again now. She’s entered for the Regional Championships at Hickstead at both Medium and Advanced Medium, so we’ll be tackling that next month, as well as Hartpury Premier League at Advanced Medium.
As ever, let me know if you have any questions or topics you want covering. And if anyone could give me some tips for staying cool in an office with no air-conditioning, it would be much appreciated!!
E.x
